Police Brace Nationwide For Protests Surrounding Chauvin Verdict

ACROSS AMERICA — Cities nationwide are bracing for unrest as a jury in Minnesota deliberates the murder case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in one of the most closely watched police brutality trials in U.S. history.

Chauvin is accused of causing the death of George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes and 20 seconds in a Memorial Day 2020 arrest after a convenience store worker called 911, telling police Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.

“I can’t breathe,” which Floyd is heard saying multiple times as the white police officer knelt on his neck, became a rallying cry in a national reckoning on systemic racial injustice and police brutality that spread across hundreds of large and small U.S. cities last summer.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and second-degree unintentional murder. The Hennepin County, Minnesota, jury got the case Monday afternoon after both sides gave closing arguments.

• Related: State Troopers From Ohio, Nebraska To Assist In Minnesota

Not since 1992, when four Los Angeles police officers were tried in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King, has a police brutality trial been so closely watched. Riots erupted in Los Angeles after the verdicts acquitting the officers were announced, and law enforcement agencies are worried of similar violence could be unleashed if Chauvin is acquitted of charges in the 48-year-old Floyd’s death.

Law enforcement agencies nationwide hope to avoid widespread damage destruction and violence on the level that occurred last year after Floyd’s death. The violence that began in Minneapolis spread to 140 cities before 2020 was over, National Guard troops were deployed in 21 states, and property damage amounted billions of dollars, according to information compiled by the Insurance Information Institute. In the Twin Cities alone, vandalism, thefts, fire and other acts caused damage topping $500 million. At least 25 people died in protests.

Minneapolis was already a city on edge during the three-week Chauvin trial, but concerns accelerated with escalating violence surrounding the killing of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, by a white police officer during an April 11 traffic stop in nearby Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Kim Potter, the officer, was training another officer when she mistook her firearm for a Taser weapon. Potter has since resigned and faces a second-degree manslaughter charge in Wright’s death.

Security remains tight in the Twin Cities and Brooklyn Center as the Chauvin case goes to the jury. Violence has erupted overnight in the nights since Wright’s killing, and authorities are bracing for more of the same. In-person school was suspended in Minneapolis ahead of the verdict, and razor wire-topped barriers were set up downtown. About 2,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to respond to unrest.

• Related: Minneapolis Suspends In-Person School Ahead of Chauvin Verdict

From Los Angeles to New York City, police urged people to keep their protests nonviolent.

"We are also strongly encouraging that if those people who want to express themselves see something, that they say something," Los Angeles Police Capt. Stacy Spell told CNN. "We don't want small groups of individuals with malicious intent to hijack what would otherwise be a peaceful demonstration."

Protests “never ended” in New York City, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told 1010 WINS RADIO.

“We’re just asking anyone that, that may come out to voice their, you know, concerns over this trial to let's just work together, do it peacefully, no property damage and we'll get all through it together,” Shea said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered 1,000 National Guard members to Philadelphia at the request of city officials. Philly Mayor Jim Kenney asked protesters “to voice the pain and anguish loud and clear but without destruction,” regardless of the verdict.

• Related: PA National Guard Coming To Philly Ahead Of Chauvin Verdict

“We need to remember our neighbors who own small businesses and stores along our commercial corridors. We need to look out for each other. All of us have the right to express our beliefs,” he said. “We have the right to gather, march and protest peacefully and safely. Great progress has been made when we unite in a common cause for the greatest good, and peaceful protest is the American way."

Chicago police canceled all discretionary days off so more police officers can be deployed in the event violence erupts. The city is on edge after the release of body camera video showing a police officer filing the single shot that killed Adam Toledo.

Police in Los Angeles also canceled discretionary time off.

• Related: Gov. DeSantis Signs Controversial 'Anti-Riot' Bill Into Law | Protesters Gather In Opposition Of Proposed 'Anti-Riot' Bill